You might disagree with this and believe that a cluttered desk or work environment is a sign of genius, creativity and self-expression. It’s not.

It is a sign of inefficiency, laziness and bad manners.

If your office looks like a garbage dump, it doesn’t matter if you can prove that you could find anything that you are being asked for in less than 5 minutes - it still looks like a garbage dump!

First of all it is not “your” office - it’s your company’s office and therefore represents your company. Don’t make your office an extension of your living room. It is a place to work, not a place where you express yourself and try to show off your personality. If you need to do that write a book or start painting.

Second, no matter how much you personally believe in chaos theory - it is not efficient. This goes back to the basic rule of “touch every item only once” that I have already discussed in the “zero inbox” section.

If your desk is cluttered with paper (and even worse with all kinds of other stuff) you will, even if you intend otherwise, touch many items more than once. You won’t finish necessary tasks and you will waste time. You read a document - maybe just half of it - and put it back on the pile. You will inevitably read the beginning of the same document over and over again until you remove it from your desk.

Don’t just keep it there - read it (if you must), act on it, get rid of it!

At the end of the day you should have an empty desk or at least a neat desk knowing exactly what to start with the next day.

Do not start a “mystery pile”, “to do later”, “read when I have time” etc. - you will never do it, mess up your desk, distract yourself with all the stuff you still have to do and sooner or later get demotivated because there is no way you ever get done.

Besides your cluttered desk also take care of the rest of your office - there is no reason why your office should not look perfectly organized and clean every day. Don’t store stuff in your office, don’t get more and more shelves for all your “important” stuff.

I believe in the zero cabinet office - I have one small container for personal files (that can be locked) - and that is all.

No additional papers, no folders, no stuff.

(this is an excerpt of my book “Rise to the top!” – you can get it now at Amazon)

]]>Always work from a list.JoeTue, 03 Apr 2018 14:31:00 +0000http://www.risetothetop.net/blog/2014/10/7/always-work-from-a-list.html54d0dd76e4b094dc29b3ad92:54d4cbcce4b0de17facd3db8:54d4cbcce4b0de17facd3dc8This might be one of the more obvious rules to follow as most of us already use some kind of self-organization, task management or to-do list approach.

Or at least we should do that, surprisingly few people stick to it however, trying new ways of organizing themselves and losing sight of the goal by trying out dozens of new task, project, to-do management Apps before they realize that they probably should put finding the right tools for self-organization on their to-do list.

But if you already found your way of organizing yourself and it works for you just keep on doing it – but if you have trouble getting things done, you find yourself keep putting stuff off or just plain forget about it then make sure that from now on you work from a list.

A list is helpful in prioritizing your work. It can help you to identify that most annoying thing you have to do first thing in the morning and it will help you identify that other thing – the most important item on your task list for your manager.

It will also help you to focus throughout the day. You have to handle many disruptions every day and the list helps to keep your head free to deal with these minor or mayor disruptions without losing focus.

So how do you organize your list?

This is up to you. But make sure you do not start to make this a complicated method of collecting everything you ever wanted to do. Focus on the day ahead of you – sit down in the morning and make the list. Do not start some elaborate task management system with days, weeks, months and years – this will only bog you down and frustrate you because there is still so much to do and lets face it in your job all these tasks change continuously anyway.

Focus on this day – create your list in a simple way. If you want to use your smartphone for this – fine, as long as the App gets out of your way and makes it easy to work with the list. The only thing you actually have to do with the list is adding items during the day and checking items off as completed. I prefer to use a simple sheet of paper for this as it is the fastest and easiest way to manage my list.

(this is an excerpt from my book “Rise to the top!” - if you want to read more on how to be organized and become a great manager and leader in your organization please get my book)

]]>Why the human race never will achieve its full potential... Meetings.JoeMon, 26 Feb 2018 19:19:00 +0000http://www.risetothetop.net/blog/2014/5/13/why-the-human-race-never-will-achieve-its-full-potential-mee.html54d0dd76e4b094dc29b3ad92:54d4cbcce4b0de17facd3db8:54d4cbcce4b0de17facd3e0f“If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be: meetings.”

(Dave Barry, “Things That It Took Me 50 Years to Learn”)

Most Meetings in today’s corporate culture are the biggest waste of time ever. People got so used to meetings that they use them as a placeholder for an actual social life. As if their motto is: “If you can’t meet with friends arrange for a meeting at work”.

Don’t get me wrong – meetings are not evil, meetings in itself are not unnecessary; but the way we organize and manage meetings is just terrible.

Meetings are often too long, have no clear agenda, too many people are invited and the decision and action to be taken as the result of the meeting are not defined.

There are only two kinds of meetings you ever need to organize or attend:

First – hold a meeting to get a decision you cannot make on your own (for whatever reason).

If you don’t have a decision to make where you need the agreement of others do not call a meeting! It is as easy as that.

If you need a meeting for agreement or support from others make sure that only those people are invited, don’t accept delegation to non-decision makers from anyone you have invited. Ensure that before the meeting the goal of the meeting is clear; provide a fixed agenda and a suitable time slot. Very seldom is there the need for a meeting longer than 15 minutes. Don’t accept the 30 minute default time slot that Microsoft Outlook offers you – arrange for exactly the amount of time you think you need – if it is 12 minutes make an invitation for 12 minutes (by the way, short meetings will ensure that people focus, are on time and actually show up).

Second – hold a meeting to get information (e.g. a project status or simply a review meeting)

Again only invite people who actually can contribute to the topic in question. If you have to invite more than three people the meeting will lose focus – try to split up if possible (even if this creates additional meetings for you). Make sure you let everyone you invited give you their information in a focused manner. Do not ask for “death by PowerPoint” (30 presentation slides in 30 minutes will put everyone in the room to sleep, guaranteed) but rather encourage more lively ways of presenting the current status, situation, progress etc.

Even for bigger projects do not hold meetings longer than one hour – it is better to meet on a regular basis and keep each meeting as short and focused on specific topics as possible. Do not let everyone present all the progress he has ever made – just the things that actual changed since your last meeting (see also “Don’t tell your life story!”).

A meeting should never be a platform for your team members or others to sell themselves - do not encourage show-off behavior.

Start every meeting on time! Do not accept the “let’s wait 5 minutes rule” – that way you teach people that it is ok to be late to your meetings. Take 5 minutes after the meeting to prepare a quick email to all participants about the results and decisions taken – do not ask for corrections or amendments.

If for any reason a follow up meeting is necessary schedule it immediately with everyone there and make sure you have everyone’s agreement.

Although some people might say that for common courtesy the following behaviors are not acceptable, you should stick to them to encourage everyone to be more focused and productive at work:

If you are invited to meetings that are unfocused and are wasting your time speak up and make clear that you cannot accept this. Show that you are impatient.

Even if you are not the organizer of a meeting do not accept late beginnings – take over the role of the moderator and start the meeting (you already know the agenda and points to discuss from the invitation, if not do not attend!).

]]>Don’t network – Work!Book ExcerptJoeMon, 03 Apr 2017 08:02:00 +0000http://www.risetothetop.net/blog/2013/5/30/dont-network-work.html54d0dd76e4b094dc29b3ad92:54d4cbcce4b0de17facd3db8:54d4cbcce4b0de17facd3dbfMany people will tell you that to be successful as a manager you have to build up a network and spend much of your time maintaining this network.

I disagree with this notion and believe that networking for the most part is a waste of your time!

Instead of spending hours and hours at business lunches, informal meetings, pre-meetings or even drinking coffee with co-workers, managers and people completely unrelated to your position -you should just work.

You will get so much more work done than the managers who spend half their time networking. This real work will shine through when it comes to reviewing your performance and contribution.

Networking can replace hard work at the beginning of your career. It is easy to move up in the organization as long as your relative responsibility is low. As soon as your contribution to the organization becomes visible however, networking will not help you to get ahead. You will be judged by your work and not your “friend status”.

And while we are at it – social networking based on popular services like Facebook or Twitter are as much a waste of your time as real life networking. Just don’t do it!

Some of these social networking tools might be helpful to organize your contacts or aggregate relevant industry news – but make sure that this is how you are using them. If you start sharing your favorite YouTube videos, funny presentations and other unnecessary status updates you are wasting your time and don’t get anything in return.

Use a more professional oriented service like LinkedIn or Plaxo for organizing your contacts and use Twitter as a news aggregator by following the news outlets that are important to your current job role (this never ever includes the “Joke of the Day”).

Use these tools only when necessary – if you have found a better system for contacts and news aggregation, use that system.

Remember that whatever you publish on any of these services is by definition public. It will be read by your team members, your manager, your future employer and everybody else.

All this said I believe it is important not to confuse networking with healthy relationship building.

Remember at work, you should strengthen the relationships with these three important groups:

Your manager

Your direct reports

Your top performers

These are the people that will get you ahead because they either support you with their own hard work or because they directly judge your performance.

Make sure you take some time out of your busy schedule and ensure that you are on the same page with these three important groups of people at work. They must understand your motivation and your goals so that they are able to follow you (remember they also want to follow the rule: “Do that other thing” – this they can only do, when they understand what you expect of them).

Don’t go to any social events at work if you can avoid it. Go to the ones that you organize yourself for your team, but leave early. Go if your boss invites you, but leave early. Whenever you have an all hands event and you don’t have to give a speech or presentation – don’t go. Spend your social time with the important people in your life (your family, your friends) and keep a professional relationship with your co-workers and employees.

Don’t network – just work!

]]>People who say it cannot be done...QuoteJoeSat, 01 Apr 2017 11:17:00 +0000http://www.risetothetop.net/blog/2015/6/15/people-who-say-it-cannot-be-done54d0dd76e4b094dc29b3ad92:54d4cbcce4b0de17facd3db8:557ebadde4b00367523cb57e]]>The Future of TechnologyTechnologyJoeWed, 29 Mar 2017 11:22:00 +0000http://www.risetothetop.net/blog/2016/1/22/the-future-of-technology54d0dd76e4b094dc29b3ad92:54d4cbcce4b0de17facd3db8:56a225e2b209430cc4107667I put this together for my work to give an overview of where we are headed.

]]>Do the most annoying thing first!JoeMon, 27 Mar 2017 11:17:00 +0000http://www.risetothetop.net/blog/2016/3/3/do-the-most-annoying-thing-first54d0dd76e4b094dc29b3ad92:54d4cbcce4b0de17facd3db8:56d833414c2f850e70b5ee76This is the simplest rule of them all. It is the most important one and the one that will aid you the most in getting things done. If you do follow this rule, you will become highly efficient every single day, staying on top of it all. In my opinion this is the best self-motivation possible.

But – because it is the most annoying task - most managers avoid ever doing it!

Change that habit! Make it your rule to do the most annoying thing first thing in the morning when you start your workday.

Start the task before getting your first coffee, talking to your team or doing anything else. Think for a few minutes what the most annoying task is that needs to get done that day, week or month and do it right away. It doesn’t matter if it takes 5 minutes or half of your day — just make sure that this one thing is what you do first and finish first before you do anything else.

Even if this is the only thing you take away from this book, you will see that your productivity will increase immediately. You feel more motivated and productive and will start every day with the right attitude.

I usually identify that thing by putting together my list for the day (see also “Always work from a list”).

Looking at all the items that need to be done today helps you to focus and more easily identify the most annoying task.

Don’t procrastinate!

Don’t try to do some other easy things first!

You have to focus on this one thing otherwise you will get sidetracked and before you can get anything done you are caught up with all the other easier tasks that needed to be done.

Beware people will interfere with what you are doing, disasters will need to be averted, someone will need your help. In general many other distractions will come your way, try to not let that happen.

Make sure you set as top priority that one annoying task! This will get you motivated for the day. If you don’t knock it off your list, I guarantee other annoying tasks will pile up in your to-do list which will eventually demotivate you every time you look at that list. This will reduce your efficiency dramatically.

I keep forgetting one of the simplest leadership tools - the Eisenhower Matrix. Simple and genius!

]]>SimplifyBook ExcerptQuoteJoeWed, 19 Oct 2016 22:51:00 +0000http://www.risetothetop.net/blog/2015/6/16/simplify54d0dd76e4b094dc29b3ad92:54d4cbcce4b0de17facd3db8:557fff2fe4b002c0e72d2acd“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. “

Antoine de St. Exupery

“Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.”

Albert Einstein

As my main field is Information Technology, I have seen many companies design complex systems to support elaborate business processes. Unfortunately, I have also seen many of these systems fail.

We sometimes forget that added complexity almost never translates into added benefits or success. Every time we make a process or product more complex we set ourselves up for failure.

Process and Product simplification should be one of the main goals of every professional and manager.

Do not reward complexity! Reward simplicity!

Ensure that everyone around you understands that you foster simple solutions. Depending on your organization this might require a new culture of work or just a small change. In some organizations, it is considered an achievement to build such a complicated process that its creator becomes indispensable (for this also see: “The graveyard is full of indispensable people.”). So much so, that he or she can’t even go on vacation or worse, they are not available to take over other tasks or projects.

Make sure that you reward the opposite – a good manager is a dispensable manager. Only then can he take over new tasks and add value to the company.

In product design there are many examples of the success of simplicity. Just look at Google or Apple and you will immediately recognize that one of their underlying design principles is simplicity.

So make sure that whenever and wherever possible you simplify!

Bad Managers create Complexity - Good Leaders remove it!

]]>Too many rules at work keep you from getting things done!VideoJoeWed, 19 Oct 2016 09:43:00 +0000http://www.risetothetop.net/blog/2015/9/2/too-many-rules-at-work-keep-you-from-getting-things-done54d0dd76e4b094dc29b3ad92:54d4cbcce4b0de17facd3db8:55e6c461e4b0c296de932bb2]]>This meeting should have been an email ...JoeTue, 18 Oct 2016 06:20:00 +0000http://www.risetothetop.net/blog/2015/9/7/this-meeting-should-have-been-an-email-54d0dd76e4b094dc29b3ad92:54d4cbcce4b0de17facd3db8:55ed2c9ce4b054c542e1054b]]>Good ManagementJoe MeierThu, 11 Feb 2016 09:40:00 +0000http://www.risetothetop.net/blog/2015/2/9/good-management54d0dd76e4b094dc29b3ad92:54d4cbcce4b0de17facd3db8:54d88057e4b0ed57c734854b]]>Do that other thingBook ExcerptJoeWed, 10 Feb 2016 15:15:00 +0000http://www.risetothetop.net/blog/2015/3/13/do-that-other-thing54d0dd76e4b094dc29b3ad92:54d4cbcce4b0de17facd3db8:5502f0ade4b0722957c9bf3bSo you have finished that most annoying thing. Good for you! Now do that other thing.

What is the other thing?

Very simple, this is the one other task on your task list (see also: “Always work from a list”) that if done immediately helps your manager the most.

Not yourself – at least not directly - but your manager!

It is important to identify this task as it helps you to achieve many things:

1. Your manager will see you as someone who prioritizes correctly (at least from his point of view).

2. Your manager sees you as someone who supports him in getting projects done quickly and efficiently. He will recognize that you can perform without much supervision, constant reminding or those awkward moments of: “Did you ever get around to …”

3. You will also establish yourself as your manager‘s “Go-to guy”. This is important as you will over time receive the most important projects from him or her as their goal is to get things done (Remember your managers’ are also just looking to be efficient).

4. You gain trust from your manager, which will be beneficial to you many times not only in your direct relationship with each other, but also when he or she or yourself move on to other things.

Now you have finished your most annoying task (that feels good, doesn’t it?) and you have completed the most important task for your manager (so he also feels good as he has gotten important work done as well).

This is the best start of any work day, everything else will be easy (and on top of that you just motivated yourself!).

]]>Stop going to Meetings!QuoteJoeThu, 27 Aug 2015 19:13:00 +0000http://www.risetothetop.net/blog/2013/12/19/stop-going-to-meetings.html54d0dd76e4b094dc29b3ad92:54d4cbcce4b0de17facd3db8:54d4cbcce4b0de17facd3e1bThe whole truth in a simple picture!
]]>Only promise what you can deliver!Book ExcerptJoeFri, 19 Jun 2015 11:29:25 +0000http://www.risetothetop.net/blog/2015/6/19/only-promise-what-you-can-deliver54d0dd76e4b094dc29b3ad92:54d4cbcce4b0de17facd3db8:5583fca2e4b0b1c692c7df68Delivering on your promises is doing what you said you would do, when you said you would do it.

If you always do exactly what you say you will do you will build a very strong relationship with your colleagues, managers and customers. If you can deliver more than that, then better still!

Under promise and over deliver whenever possible!

Many companies use this principle to build trust and strong relationships between all levels of the organization and its customer and shareholder base. A classic business example is Apple’s constantly low guidance for revenue and profit and over delivery every single quarter.

Be always true to your word – if you promise something, deliver it. Don’t question your own promise after you have made it – you are obligated to fulfill it.

If you promised to deliver a sales presentation, make sure you are there on time and well prepared. If you promised to organize a meeting make sure you thought of everything needed. If you promised to sit in for your manager, make sure you are there and very well prepared.

Remember that a promise should be voluntarily – this is the second part of you promising something – only promise what you can deliver.

Do not let anyone pressure you into promising something you already know you will not be able to deliver. If you are sure you cannot do it – do not promise it. Say no (read also: “Never say No!”), make clear it is unreasonable and explain why – this is very important: You have to make sure that it is understood why you will not promise something, if you don’t explain people might think you implicitly promised something that you didn’t.

Unfortunately it is part of today’s business world that people will try to force you into decisions and promises - be aware of that and don't accept it.

]]>FailureBook ExcerptJoeTue, 16 Jun 2015 11:49:00 +0000http://www.risetothetop.net/blog/2015/6/15/failure54d0dd76e4b094dc29b3ad92:54d4cbcce4b0de17facd3db8:557ebb9ce4b0cd2823ce2dfcMaking many decisions in your role as a Leader will inevitably lead to making some wrong decisions.

Don’t be afraid of failure, of making the wrong decision. Failure in a business environment is widely regarded as part of being a Leader as long as you stand by your decision and learn from the mistake.

Whatever you do, don’t try to hide your failure, or try to blame someone else for your decision. Accept failure, try to understand how your decision led to it and make sure next time you consider the reasons for your earlier failure when making a decision. Just don’t postpone your next decision because you failed last time.

]]>You don’t need more time – you just need to decide!JoeMon, 15 Jun 2015 07:26:24 +0000http://www.risetothetop.net/blog/2015/6/15/you-dont-need-more-time-you-just-need-to-decide54d0dd76e4b094dc29b3ad92:54d4cbcce4b0de17facd3db8:557e7da2e4b0c2cc114b4342“You don’t need more time, you just need to decide!” (Seth Godin)

You always have to remember, you are a manager!

You are the one who gets paid to lead your team and make decisions! Even if you “manage” only one – yourself! The only reason we have Leaders in organizations is because we need someone to make decisions.

Decisions have to be made, and to make them you do not need more time. Just decide!

Every decision postponed poisons your organization. Projects will lose momentum; critical situations get out of control, people get frustrated and in the worst scenario: someone else will make the decision for you.

You will never have all the data needed to be completely sure that your decision will be right. Decisions are about what happens in the future and you will never be able to know the future. You know the statistics from the past, facts that held true in the past. But, face it; you have nothing that will ensure that your decision will be the right one. Don’t hesitate, hoping for a clear signal. You are wasting time and possibly foregoing wonderful business opportunities in the process.

Even more importantly, putting decision making off undermines your position as a leader. People who looked up to you, who followed you because of what you represented, will begin to question your leadership ability.

We need leaders. We do not want to make all the hard decisions ourselves – this is true in our personal lives as well as our work lives.

Make sure you are that leader and don’t volunteer to give up your authority by being indecisive.

So make sure that you keep focused on the decision, base it on the facts you have, the people you trust and – in the end – your gut-feeling – and then go through with it.

Easier said than done in today’s fast paced world of distraction galore. How do you focus? How do you stop yourself from looking at cute kitten pictures on Facebook all day, or what your High-school friends are up to these days, or how the middle east crisis is developing, or, or, or …

It is a daily challenge for me to keep focused and get things done. And this is true for probably most of us. Right now I’d rather go out and get a coffee with some colleagues instead of finishing this chapter. I might not get finished at all with it today, too many other things to do. What are these other things I need to do?

This is the critical question when it comes to focus and avoiding procrastination traps. It is important that you are organized (and there is a whole section on that topic coming up in this book) and clear about your to does and your main goal for the day. You need to focus only on these two things -what is on my to do list for today (no matter how the list is organized or looks like - you need to have an easily structured to do list for the day) and what is my ultimate goal for the day. Again, sounds easier than it is? Yes and No. It is basically a form of training yourself of keeping to your list and working only from this list. Their will be plenty of distractions - put them on the list as they occur.

Don’t just start doing stuff - that is the beginning of procrastination!

Make sure whatever you put on your list and work on fits to your overall goal for the day. If your goal is to finish that important project presentation, than make sure that this one task of your list is definitely done by the end of the day. You won’t be able to get everything off your list on most days - so it is important that you get your main goal done, the rest will fall into place and was probably not the most important thing to begin with.

A cautionary word on “Multitasking” - forget about it! It doesn't exist and it doesn't help you. You are not a computer (actually they don’t multitask either but “time-slice” - which they can do really well compared to you). Focus on one thing and do it extremely well, than focus on the next thing. Work through your list, don’t procrastinate and avoid failure!